Invitrogen and Natural Selection Team to Bring New MicroRNA Sequences to Researchers

Invitrogen Corporation (NASDAQ:IVGN), a provider of essential life science technologies for research, production and diagnostics, announced today it has entered into a licensing agreement with Natural Selection, Inc. to make new microRNA sequences available to researchers. This agreement enables Invitrogen to provide the most comprehensive human and mouse microRNA arrays on the market.

The microRNA sequences have been verified experimentally using deep sequencing, array profiling, and qRT-PCR methods. Invitrogen is the first company to commercialize microRNA content discovered using these new deep sequencing technologies. The agreement will lead to a significant increase in human and mouse microRNA content on the market and available to researchers. The microRNA sequences will be submitted to the on-line database of The Sanger Institute, a leading biomedical research charity. Its on-line database, recently updated to 10.0 version, is the world repository for microRNA sequences.

"For the first time, scientists will be able to investigate the role of many novel and previously unknown microRNAs using Invitrogen's microRNA arrays with Natural Selection content," said Amy Butler, Invitrogen Vice President of Gene Expression Profiling. "By combining these new sequences with the latest Sanger 10.0 content, we are greatly expanding the potential for discovery of novel microRNA biomarkers for disease and development."

Also as part of the agreement, Invitrogen will make available a larger set of computationally-predicted microRNA sequences over the next few years for human and mouse resulting from a proprietary design algorithm developed by Natural Selection, Inc. under funding from the National Science Foundation.

"These new tools will significantly enhance the research community's understanding of the role of small RNAs in biological processes," said Dr. Gary Fogel, Vice President of Natural Selection. "This advance is particularly important in the areas of cancer and stem cell research, where microRNAs have been found to play a critical role. We are very pleased to team with Invitrogen to make these sequences available to the research community."

For more information on Invitrogen products for microRNA profiling, visit www.invitrogen.com/ncode. The Sanger microRNA database is located at http://microrna.sanger.ac.uk/sequences/.

About Invitrogen

Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq:IVGN) provides products and services that support academic and government research institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide in their efforts to improve the human condition. The company provides essential life science technologies for disease research, drug discovery, and commercial bioproduction. Invitrogen's own research and development efforts are focused on breakthrough innovation in all major areas of biological discovery including functional genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and cell biology -- placing Invitrogen's products in nearly every major laboratory in the world. Founded in 1987, Invitrogen is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, and conducts business in more than 70 countries around the world. The company is celebrating 20 years of accelerating scientific discovery. Invitrogen globally employs approximately 4,300 scientists and other professionals and had revenues of more than $1.15 billion in 2006. For more information, visit www.invitrogen.com.

About Natural Selection, Inc.

Natural Selection, Inc. (NSI) is a private firm specializing in the application of computational intelligence methods for problem solving in medicine and biochemistry, such as image analysis, pharmaceutical design, structure prediction, sequence analysis, and personalized medicine. NSI also supports a variety of defense and industry applications. Founded in 1993 by Dr. Lawrence J. Fogel, a pioneer of evolutionary computation, NSI is headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, visit www.natural-selection.com